The Computus of Bede: Christ is Risen

Modern stained glass at Gloucester Cathedral, England
depicting Bede dictating to a scribe

Easter morning came with rain, blessed rain. Sunday found me sleeping in, to the sound of it outside.  Easter Monday, the first day of April--the second driest month of year here--gave us more rain. If I don't hear it again for several months, it will be all right.

I just got done with this week's Spellbreakers Podcast. The subject was computus. It may be my favorite show so far, because I got to speak about God, Jesus, and the Church. I started off by showing a video of an Orthodox priest in England talking about the Jesus Prayer, proceded to a video of an Orthodox monk on Vashon Island describing the activities of the Othrodox patron saint of the Americas with the natives of the Aleutian Islands (the cradle of Orthodoxy in America) and ended with a Youtube video of a young woman in a Lutheran Church in Cincinnati singing a famous modern hymn written by a Catholic priest.  It also threw some Jack Chick and the Venerable Bede. I love Bede. Bede embodies computus as much as any man in history.

I'm a fan of these types of Lutheran worship service, where the pastor is tie-less and the music is supplied by a band with keyboard, drum, and guitar. There is something earnest about these Lutherans, in the desire to find a meaningful liturgy amidst the loose of the modern world. I would rather attend such a Lutheran church than go to a most modernist Catholic masses with similar music and church decor. The Lutherans of today at least seem like they are trying to pull something together out of the wreckage of postmodern western culture, whereas the modernist Catholics seem like they are trying to tear down the parts that are still standing.

I was very nervous before the show that I would not do justice the topic, but I think the Spirit helped me out.

The best part---I didn't finish and plenty of slides for part two next week.